Review | Smoke

Smoke (Burned #2) by Ellen Hopkins
September 10th 2013 by Margaret K. McElderry
560 pages
Five Stars

"Pattyn Von Stratten’s father is dead, and Pattyn is on the run. After far too many years of abuse at the hands of her father, and after the tragic loss of her beloved Ethan and their unborn child, Pattyn is desperate for peace. Only her sister Jackie knows what happened that night, but she is stuck at home with their mother, who clings to normalcy by allowing the truth to be covered up by their domineering community leaders. Her father might be finally gone, but without Pattyn, Jackie is desperately isolated. Alone and in disguise, Pattyn starts a new life, but is it even possible to rebuild a life when everything you’ve known has burned to ash and lies seem far safer than the truth?" - Goodreads


If you have not yet read the first book in this duology, Burned, beware of spoilers!

For any Ellen Hopkins fan, this book was a long time coming. Burned came out about 7 years prior. It was meant to be a stand alone but the fans wanted more of Pattyn's story. Thus, Smoke was born. I hadn't been more excited for an Ellen Hopkins book ever before, but it still took me 8 months to read this. I don't think I was ready to accept the end of the story. I am really glad I did read it though. I needed to know what happened after the events in Burned, and I needed closure. Burned was one of the first books I read by Ellen Hopkins and it had quite an impact on who I was as a reader.

Burned was told from Pattyn's point of view alone, while Smoke switches between both Pattyn and her younger sister, Jackie's point of view. We follow Pattyn, who is on the run after the death of her father. She makes a new life for herself under an alias of an undocumented housekeeper. She learns to make room in her life for people who have accepted her and care for her. The new life she has made is threatened by her bosses troublemaker daughter and friends. Meanwhile, Jackie is still at home dealing with the mess that was left over when Pattyn left and her father died. She is ridiculed and made to believe her rape was consensual while suffering through PTSD. She starts to heal and the wall she has built around her comes crashing down. There is a twist at the end that I did not see coming!

At first I didn't think I would like Jackie's point of view but I came to really like her as a character. She had a good influence in her life and learned to stand up for herself. She really grew so much. I think the story is much stronger with two points of view. You see how both sisters are affected by the events of Burned.

I really wasn't very sure where this story was going to go. We were left with such uncertainty at the end of Burned. I marathoned this duology, so I was able to stay in the world Ellen Hopkin's created and really feel all the emotions this story brought on. It's a very powerful, honest and moving story. When dealing with this subject matter, be mindful of trigger warnings. Some scenes are very hard to process. I think this book, as with so many other Ellen Hopkin's books, is so important.